Armor is a bit of a moot point, gear towards what you like that still allows you to move freely. I have the following.

*Venerable Sage's Hood
*Gloom Armor
*Gloom Gauntlets
*Black Boots

With these stats, not only does it look good (Silent Killer look) but you have decent defense with built in poison resistances, which is good since poison seems to be a fan favorite in this game, all while maintaining mobility. You use ToB or ToG to cast Second Chance when entering an area and as needed, then switch to iCat for Light Weapon. So buy a lot of spices from the vendor in 3-1. There is also actually just a leftover stat that you can freely put anywhere. I put it on luck.

Recommended spells/miracles

Light Weapon

Poison Cloud

Second Chance

Gameplay tips and progression

The way to progress is totally up to you. What worked for me might not work for others. However, I went to 4-1 first to get the Crescent Falchion +1 and the Compound Long Bow. For sake of saving space, you can look at the guides for that world for locations. I then completed 1-2 and all of world 2 as those are ideal spots for hardstones via geckos and monster drops. The first tunnel to the right in 2-2 as well as running thru the beginning portion of 2-1 up until you come to the ledge where to your right are explosive barrels and a gecko and a small horde including boulders throwers to your left. I believe this is where you get the spike shield, for reference. That made farming the stones to make my bow sticky much easier. Needless to say, I used the bow when starting out. So my stats went first into dex until I was doing respectable damage. From there I raised faith to 18 and followed with strength. Vit and End to 20, Magic to 30 then rounded out End and Vit.

Now for explanations. This build, at least the way I picture and play it, is all about deceit. Of course I'm speaking towards the PvP aspect. For PvE you can very easily rip through anything coming your way. It's just a matter of knowing your enemies' attack patterns. For example, when using a Lava Bow, you always want to use Fire Arrows. Since the fire damage scales with your magic stat, you pack a bit of a punch and a momentary stun. This can make the difference of walking away unscathed or potentially cracking your Second Chance in world 3. The stun lasts just long enough for your next arrow to land on the jailers, stunning them again, and often kills in two shots without them ever firing off a paralyzing spell or soul ray.

In Body Form, you want to always, ALWAYS, two hand your Blueblood Sword. I see most people brag about the stunlock abilities of the sword. Surprisingly, that's not why I suggest this. Stunlock is easy to avoid. In my experience, if the stunlock worked, chances are it was someone you really didn't need to use it on, and when you actually need it to work, you're facing someone who knows how to avoid it. The thing is, they're going to be EXPECTING the stunlock. I've found the 2h R1, R2, R2 combo is far more effective, for many reasons. I've toyed around with many weapons and I may be wrong about this being unique, or it may just be a push effect and they become direct hits, but each hit increases in power with this three hit combo. If they're unfortunate enough to get hit by all three, with Light Weapon cast, they're dead, through defenses, high Vit, faith or second chance, they're dead. There's also a few seconds of what I believe is referred to "hyperarmor" in the animation and the swings themselves are actually somewhat unpredictable.

R1: Vertical slash from right to left (no hyperarmor)
R2: Spins around for a backhand slash, even though it's 2h, animation is 1h, increasing range (Spin action hyperarmor)
R2: Immediate Left to Right horizontal slash from the ground up (No hyperarmor)

These swings have large arcs that end behind you, so even if someone is roll happy, they're caught. If they attempt to backstab, They're caught. If they're using a heavy weapon, the both of you might take a hit, but they are wide open while you can follow up with attacks and roll away while they recovering. Even if it's tempting, roll away after every combo. There's no need for a double roll as a single roll will give you space to recover stamina, and after those hits, your opponent will be looking to heal. Wait for them to begin that animation and dash in for another attack catching them in the middle of it.

As I said, this setup is about deception. That brings us to Poison Cloud. Poison Cloud is in no way intended to poison. If you happen to poison, that's great. Poison Cloud is a bit of a blinder. It blocks their PoV from you and of course they're going to roll away from it. That's what you want. Don't chase after them. Instead, use this time to heal, if you need to, use a spice, or recast Light Weapon. I'll be honest though, once I learned to pick my attacks with the BBS, it saw no use other than casting on Miralda in 1-1. I'm reluctant to take it off as I may need it again though. It's not like the other spell slot is being used anyway. As far as bows go, I've explained that Lava Bow and Fire are for the stun effect, against certain enemies or characters in certain gear, it could potentially do more damage than the Sticky. If you are setting up a choke point where you can spot your invader in the distance, like the towers on 1-2, or replacing the skeleton archers on 4-1, you want to fire off a few shots then run. As you're running, switch to your BBS and cast LW with the iCat, once you round a corner or get out of their sight momentarily. I don't mean be a few steps ahead and try it, that's how your face gets bashed in. You have to realize you're luring them in and fire a few shots, not shoot at them until the last possible moment and run. They will round a corner still trying to chance you and bam, you got them full on in your combo. Then, chances are since they're chasing you and you've stopped to cast LW, you have your stamina whereas theirs will be somewhat depleted.

Soul Form: BLUE Phantom
I don't invade, sorry, so I can't give an accurate use as a black phantom. I also only normally die on purpose, in order to do co-op, and the few times I actually bite it, it's also to do co-op. That being said, you of course want to go to a place with plenty of action. My favorite spot is 1-4. Before you set your soul sign, take a hit or two from the archers on the dragon, I would advise only one and roll behind the wall. Equip Makoto until your dying buffs activate and back to the BBS and ToB. Place your soul sign and wait to be summoned. As soon as you're summoned dive roll to your left and cast Second Chance. Your bow is the weapon of choice as a Blue Phantom. I don't know if it's known or not, but with the Morion Blade and CRR, if you put on the Friend's ring, there's no change in the numbers on your stat screen. There IS a hidden bonus to damage however. With just the blade and ring, I can fire on the blue dragon for 420ish. However when I through the Friend's Ring in the mix, it's 680ish per arrow. Since you can fight both dragons from relatively safe places, 10 shots max kills either one. Everything else on the stage is a one shot kill except the BP, which are two. If your host gets invaded, you want to abandon them. Leave them alone and hope they don't follow and run to a hidden area with a clear line of sight. For example, after the three BP, instead of going right, go left where you can fire up that alley but it's more than enough room for you to evade. If near the blue dragon's second appearance, run down the stairs to where the loot is and peg them with a well placed shot, stunned into the dragon's breath. If they attempt to lure BP Ostrava down to attack you, let the host go in while you drop Ostrava in two shots and show them how foolish it was to fight in a narrow space.

I cannot say if this build is difficult to master or not, as it's simply my play style. But I've only been killed by one invader and that was when I was summoned, and as I ran under the dragon to shoot him from below and kill him, a black phantom was waiting on the inside and got in a backstab and another hit as I was getting up (DBS). The host didn't tell me or even try to warn me that there was a BP on the board. It was suckish and cheap, but it still counts. I've even killed two invaders at once in 4-1 with this just yesterday. Weird how that happened… The point of this build, as I said, is to take the invaders' tactics and mechanics and use them against them. That's just the kind of person I am. You have to be adaptable and you have to be evasive. This is not a build to just rush in blindly swinging. Quick precise attacks and get out of there. If they all land, you win. If one misses, the enemy is now in a panic and scrambling. YOU are your defense, but there will be a time when someone with a Mirdan Hammer or spear comes at you. If you happen to get caught in that stunlock, immediately after you feel the vibration of getting hit, hold down L1. Since you're two handing the BBS, you'll attempt to block. It won't save you from taking damage, but it will stop you from being stunlocked and you can then open your combo in the middle of theirs. Remember, that second attack has a period of hyperarmor, and the first and third attacks are fast. Basically, once you get off that first attack, your second and third are guaranteed as long as you have stamina.

I welcome any constructive feedback or questions about it. I tried looking through the different builds before I posted this one, and while some builds have similar stats, the weapons and play style are different. Another little plus to this is the range of stats give you versatility. You can use sharp weapons, moon, crescent, quite a few. So if you have that persistent BP who keeps coming back determined to get you eventually, you can always mix it up on him and throw him for a loop. There was a BP that kept coming back for my host once, I equipped Northern Regalia just for the fun of it, when 2h and my phantom setup and me being pure white, 1290atk, I kid you not. I was firing at him with my bow. Since I was the one killing him the other times (waited until he was in the middle of his swings on host and fired), he rushed me. Switched to NR, 2 hit kill. If the damage rolled over to second chance, it may have been a ohko. It did 2300+ dmg. As I said, you have to get in their heads and use their tactics against them. PvE this cuts through anything very easily. PvP is where the build keeps a smile on your face however.

Comments

I did not realize how much of a wall a text that was. Believe it or not, I was trying to keep it simple. I even left out most of the combat against other builds and types. As I said though, I'll answer any further questions about this or elaborate on anything. Constructive feedback is also welcomed because I enjoy a good debate and battle of wit. Insulting posts, there's a difference, will be utterly ignored. I just wanted to elaborate on a few things now that I know may not make sense.

"Why Makoto +5? That seems like a waste of colorless souls since you're only using it for drain."
No one asked this, but it is a valid question. Makoto is IDEALLY only used for the drain, but we can't always predict when we get attacked. You may have just helped a host fend off an invader who lured enemies to you and Second Chance was cracked and you're now draining your HP again when another invader comes. That happens a lot. While it doesn't scale with stats and can't be enchanted, it does do some damage that people won't just scoff at. Also it has a very nasty 10/sec bleed effect. If you're maintaining movement and swinging, you can trick your opponent into backing off thinking it might be a hiltless or any other katana, since uchigatanas are a big scare. You want EVERYTHING you wear to work for you. No dead weight. Having it +5 you may get a surprise kill, unlikely, or at least hold them off until your host jumps in it. It's +5 strictly for those surprise moments and you won't be able to calmly bring up menu and switch back to BBS for melee.

"This seems like a BBS build"
I can understand that, but the strategy behind it is different. There may be someone who is quite good with parrying, as I'm not. You can get rid of the BBS in favor of dual daggers and the right hand dagger being sharp. Light weapon still works and I'd imagine those would be scary ripostes. If you want spears, you have that option as well, you can even get that big slow flamberge sword and go with it. Whichever weapon you like. I prefer the BBS, not because of the magical properties or anything. Because I actually wondered what the big fuss of it was about and tried it out. I didn't like it the way I've seen it suggested, but that 2h R1, R2, R2 combo is powerful, quick and stylish. I like being stylish.

"This seems like a spellsword"
Also understandable, but not necessarily true. To be honest, if I'm playing offline to farm or change world tendencies, or even online but I've defeated the boss of that stage, I don't even use light weapon. As a matter of fact, a lot of the times, I may swap it out for HSA or something because, while nice, the added damage from it isn't really NEEDED in PvE with this setup, that's even true in NG+ (which has the biggest jump in difficulty I believe, may be wrong). Light Weapon is for putting the hurt and just that much more pressure on an opponent. I've actually used it as a threat once. Second Chance was cracked by one invader and as I was running from the stairs in 4-1 to the archstone, I was invaded. I bluffed pretending to be ready by casting Light Weapon, which made him back off trying to wait it out and changed to ToB, popped a spice and cast SC. Thanks to that space he gave me, it went off perfectly, but as he was running in with his Meat Cleaver to try and stop it, guess who gave a 2h combo as a "thank you"?

"Why Moron Blade or CRR in body form if you not using it?"
Well you are and you aren't. Ideally you want to stay at max health. I know 35 vit might be considered low, but if you're utilizing the purpose of this build, you'll only catch glancing attacks or you may slip up and get smashed by a heavy weapon in the midst of your combo. If it drops you into that range (I've yet to suffer a ohko even from cursed weapons in body form), then the rest of your combo becomes drastically more powerful. Since this is also a high movement build, the dyng buff looks a lot like SC. Unless you sit still and give them the chance to really look at it, you can trick them into thinking that while you just cracked their SC, you still have yours. They'll give you some space to heal up and recast, allowing you to do the same. If they rush you, just roll INTO their attacks while locked on and you may end up beside them, unleash the power of your nearly 1000atk BBS and make them wonder wtf just happened. lol

Oh and one more note. Use the short bow from your starting equipment to upgrade to Lava Bow. It's the easiest to upgrade and you don't really care about it's damage as you only want the Lava Bow from it. And my numbers are off on the NR. Actually, in body form with CRR and Morion blade active, it's 1296. It'll obviously be a lot more damaging as a phantom with Friend's Ring. Haven't had the chance to co-op and see since posting this.

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